DX LISTENING DIGEST 1-079, May 29, 2001 edited by Glenn Hauser, wghauser@hotmail.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. For restrixions and searchable 2001, 2000 contents archive see} http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/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] WORLD OF RADIO on WWCR: UT Monday May 28 on 3215 at 0530 instead of 0500, probably swapped by mistake with VOA CW (John Norfolk, gh) ** ANTARCTICA. QSL card from LRA36, Antarctica, arrived last week after many years. I used the written notation of the theme tune in my reception report to this station funnily enough - seems to have done the trick! (Tom Read, BDXC-UK May 29 via DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. 5000.00 LOL (presumed) 2350 May 18, Time signal station, female announcer in Spanish with UTC -3 time check every 5 minutes. No ID heard. Fair to good signal (Mark Mohrmann, VT, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARMENIA/AZERBAIJAN. Karabakh radio station wants to "build bridge" to Azerbaijan | Text of report by Armenian news agency Snark Stepanakert [Xankandi], 26 May: To build a bridge between the peoples of Nagornyy Karabakh and Azerbaijan, to establish trust between them, to assist in finding a just political, historical and legal solution to the Karabakh problem - these are the goals of the private radio station Voice of Justice [Russian: Golos Spravedlivosti] which broadcasts from the Karabakh capital in the Azerbaijani language. This is what Mikael Adzhyan, director of the radio station, has told a Snark correspondent. The radio station has been operating in Stepanakert since 1997. A total of 350 programmes prepared on the basis of local information of different content have been on the air over this period. According to Adzhyan, at first Azerbaijani listeners did not trust the radio station - it seemed to them that it had been set up to conduct anti- Azerbaijani propaganda. The management of the Voice of Justice has more than once turned to its colleagues from Azerbaijan with a proposal to cooperate, but to no avail. Speaking about the understanding of the Karabakh government for the activities of the radio station and stressing that there was no censorship or control by the state, despite the continuing martial law in the Nagornyy Karabakh Republic, Adzhyan at the same time did not deny that information reported by the radio station might become distorted outside the republic and even used to harm the cause. The radio station employs mainly Armenians - refugees from Azerbaijan. There is also an Azerbaijani among the employees. The radio station Voice of Justice receives reactions to its programmes from many countries of Europe, Asia and America. [Voice of Justice broadcasts two half-hour programmes twice a week on 9677 kHz shortwave and 101 MHz FM] Source: Snark news agency, Yerevan, in Russian 1215 gmt 26 May 01 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA: Additional freqs of Christian Vision via 250 kW tx in Darwin: 9725 21.30 - 22.00 English 290 deg 9865 20.30 - 21.00 English 290 deg 11840 20.30 - 22.00 English 340 deg 17850 22.00 - 01.00 English 340 deg 21550 21.00 - 07.00 English 340 deg (Andrew Flynn, Head of Engineering, CVI via Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria, May 29 via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 5035.28, Radio Aparecida, 0135 May 26, Portuguese religious service, // 6135.11, 9630.19 and 11855.26. Fair signal (Mark Mohrmann, VT, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Wow, they go out of their way to present a variety of frequency offsets (gh) ** BULGARIA. New radio chief elected, pledges to reinstate sacked staff | Excerpt from report in English by Bulgarian news agency BTA web site Sofia, 28 May: The National Council on Radio and Television (NCRT) on Monday [28 May] elected by consensus 39-year-old Polya Stancheva director-general of National Radio. Stancheva, whose previous position was programme director, was elected after the court declared Ivan Borislavov's election as director-general illegitimate. After Borislavov assumed office in February, radio staffers launched protests, demanding the resignation of both Borislavov and the NCRT and resorting later to civil disobedience. Then firings followed. The protests against Borislavov and the Governing Board appointed by him led observers to speak about a crisis at the media. Stancheva is now supposed to launch an anticrisis programme already approved by the NCRT. The NCRT's Georgi Lozanov said he had supported Stancheva's election on condition that those fired will be allowed to resume their positions. The NCRT agreed, Lozanov said... The NCRT has recommended that Stancheva invite Professor Veselin Dimitrov to chair the National Radio Programme Council, Bozhilova said. Dimitrov was one of the three Director General candidates named by the NCRT but he declined to take part in the competition at the end of last week. All documents approved by the Governing Board will be reviewed, Bozhilova said. "The situation at the radio causes concern because fear and distrust prevail, and the programme can hardly appeal to listeners," Stancheva said. The director-general added that the first problem she is planning to address is the formation of a management in keeping with the anticrisis programme. "It will be difficult to have all fired staffers come back to work at once," Stancheva said, adding that, nevertheless, she will make sure that all of them will return. According to her, 44 persons have been fired and 57 have been recruited during the protests. Old staffers will resume their positions, the others will be welcome to take part in competitions, Stancheva said. The director-general said she would gladly invite some of those dismissed to become members of governing bodies. Source: BTA web site, Sofia, in English 28 May 01 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** CANADA. Please go to the following webpage and read Andy Sennitt's excellent article on the Radio Canada International situation. Many of us have been concerned that this story is being overshadowed by the BBC cuts in service. Thankfully, Andy seems to have been thinking this way as well. He has really hit the nail on the head with this piece. I must openly thank him for putting it all into context. Please read it carefully and realize just how dramatic a situation it really is at RCI right now. We have been through this all too many times in the past. It is about time that the shortwave community adopts a "zero tolerance" policy for lame-ass moves being shoved down our throats -- or should I say in our ears! http://www.rnw.nl/realradio/features/html/rci010528.html (Sheldon Harvey, Owner-Radio H.F., http://www.total.net/~radiohf President-CIDX http://www.anarc.org/cidx/ swprograms via DXLD) ** CANADA. Here is some additional info from today's Maple Leaf Mailbag and Courrier Mondial (French mailbag show) on RCI. (Incidentally, both will be stored on the RCI website for the next three weeks.) - Foreign language services will have all their transmissions reduced to 30 minutes (if it isn't already at that length) - English and French transmission times will remain 60 minutes - The term "No-news weekends" needs a bit of defining: * There will be news on English and French weekend broadcasts, except that it will come from CBC/Radio-Canada newsrooms instead of RCI's own newsroom * Foreign language services will have NO NEWS AT ALL on weekends because... RCI's newsroom is closed! - More changes due in October - RCI Director Robert O'Reilly did not even try to put a brave face on things: he *expects* us to be unhappy, perhaps angry... I hope he was sincere; otherwise it might qualify as a great PR stunt! - Heritage Minster Sheila Copps told the RCI French section in early May that CBC/Radio-Canada was not interested at all in developing plans for an international audience. (Interestingly enough, CBC is mandated to run RCI because the government wants to maintain its arm`s-length relationship from broadcasting!) - It was not made clear whether the cancelled editions of Canada Today will be replaced with CBC programs, or whether RCI will simply give up those frequencies - It was also unclear what impact the BBC will have on RCI's transmitter exchange P.S. WHERE TO SEND LETTERS? I suggest you target your letters to Heritage Minister Sheila Copps and Foreign Affairs Minister John Manley: the former funds RCI, the latter determines what foreign languages are broadcast. (I will post addresses when I find them!) It also wouldn't hurt to send letters to RCI boss Robert O'Reilly and CBC head Robert Rabinovitch: Robert Rabinovitch, President and CEO, CBC Box 500 - Station A Toronto, Ontario CANADA M5W 1E6 Robert O'Reilly Executive Director, RCI Box 6000 Montreal, Quebec CANADA H3C 3A8 (I also understand that the RCI Action Committee is interested in receiving cc: of any correspondence that you might send...) I won't post e-mail addresses because Topica tends to cut them off, making them completely useless! Regards, (Ricky Leong, swprograms, via DXLD) It would appear to me that RCI is replacing the Monday through Friday Canada Today (a one hour program) with a new half-hour "version" of same, followed by reruns of some new weekend programming. You will still hear a one-hour transmission on weekdays. At any rate, perhaps a little more perspective may be gained by looking at the present RCI schedule, which shows basically four RCI produced programs besides the news: Canada Today, Canada Review, Canada Newsweek and The Maple Leaf Mailbag. These will be replaced or altered by four or five new programs, which will be repeated during the week to fill up the whole hour of weekday transmission time. Actually, as far as English goes it does not sound like much of a cutback to me (except for RCI produced and read news on the weekends). The main cutbacks are in foreign languages, morning broadcasts to Africa and Mid East and Evenings to India. Sounds more like, to coin a phrase, "a judicious programming realignment in light of a new found budget situation". At least they did NOT announce that they would be quitting SW transmissions to North America, beginning July 1st! (Eric Cooper, ibid.) Comments to the above. Thanks! Ricky Leong Sounds a bit Anglo-centric... It's true, things might not be so bad for English-speakers in North America, but there is more to RCI's audience than that. Don't they deserve the same quality (perhaps quantity?) of programs as English and French speakers? First of all, there shouldn't BE a "budget situation." RCI's so- called stable funding should be indexed to inflation. Secondly, Heritage Canada needs to find a crown corporation that actually *wants* to manage RCI and take good care of it... because according to her, CBC/Radio-Canada wants nothing to do with international broadcasting (heard this on French mailbag show). Furthermore, the "programming realignment" could cause havoc with audiences which are creatures of habits. RCI just had a format change about a year ago. Now they're headed for one this weekend, then another one in October. Sounds very schizophrenic (with apologies for use of this expression). [at least not quitting SW to NAm] Thank God. :) In fact, I think it's a good time for RCI and others to expands North American and Australasian services to fill the coming gap (assuming we can't stop it, of course). (Ricky Leong, ibid.) I am wondering if there is more to this than meets the eye. The reason I ask is that I recall my experience in the CBC offices during the Olympics. The SRC/CBC folks fought like cats and dogs and *did not get along at all* and I got the impression things between the two had been simmering for some time. The French-speaking employees claimed the English-language staff would go into their offices and switch their computers from French into English, and other similar clowning. It was a SRC employee who manhandled me into a wall when I was on a service call there. I'm just wondering if CBC/SRC is taking this *one step further* against the English-language employees of Radio Canada by saying that they "don't care" about English-language international broadcasting (Maryanne Kehoe, ibid.) I should clarify... I heard Sheila Copps on RCI's French mailbag program saying that both CBC and SRC (upper management, I suppose) were not interested in international broadcasting. I did not get the impression that the current issues are being caused by a French- English spat among CBC and SRC employees (Ricky Leong, ibid.) I think the two decisions may be related. No one can doubt the time coincidence certainly lends credibility to that theory. BBC uses RCI transmitters in Sackville to reach North America with one-hop fidelity. In return RCI uses transmitters in the UK to get their signals to points in Europe, Asia and Africa. With BBC withdrawing from the swap because they no longer need to beam to NA, RCI faces having to pay real money for relay services. That could be at the root of their surprise budget squeeze. ~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-.,_,.- *~'^'~*-., (Joe Buch, DE, ibid.) I doubt anyone here would dispute the fact that the priorities of a shortwave broadcaster should be to get the programming out, first and foremost above all else. The cuts being implemented at RCI, as announced officially by RCI only yesterday, on RCI's Maple Leaf Mailbag, seem to indicate to me that RCI has its priorities all screwed up. John Figliozzi and I had the opportunity to attend the "Challenges For International Broadcasting" conference, staged by RCI here in Montreal last May. I am sure that John can attest to the fact that this was a pretty high-class event. Today, I requested some financial information from RCI, namely the cost for staging such a conference every second year somewhere in Canada. I have also asked if this money is drawn from the $15.52 million annual budget of RCI. If, in fact, it does, I would immediately weigh the value of the conference. Although it is an international event, and an important meeting for all attending, it might be time to pull the plug on it, and to use that money to help maintain the services of the station. One has to wonder about conferences such as "Challenges". Although the focus of the 2000 event was "Programming-The Heart of International Broadcasting", it was blatantly obvious that the people who actually produce and present the programming at shortwave radio stations were not in attendance. In the majority of cases, it was the corporate "elite" of the stations who travelled from all corners of the world to participate. How could programming be effectively discussed when those who are ultimately responsible for it are not even there? It's time to get some priorities straight. The "Challenge" which RCI must deal with is not the staging of the international conference, but meeting the challenge of maintaining a quality shortwave service for Canada, and meeting the mandate placed upon it, to bring Canada to the world (Sheldon Harvey Owner-Radio H.F., ibid.) I was a major critic of the "Challenges" conference on two fronts: 1: for the reasons you mentioned that no programmers were there and 2: no listeners were invited/allowed to attend. In addition, I never heard anything about those questionnaires we filled out for the participants. If they did not want our input, they should not have asked for it in the first place! As I understand it, the registration fee was several hundred dollars---to me, that was a blatant attempt to keep the "common" folk out. Sheldon, I am with you on this one....either re-tool the Challenges conference so that the programmers and the people whose programs as such are directed to can attend, or dump the event entirely and re-direct that money into RCI operations. 73 (Maryanne Kehoe, GA, ibid.) ** CANADA. Got a Canadian domestic for the first time today (excluding my very tentative logs of CJYQ and VOCM St John`s NF a few years ago). I have been trying to hear the Canadian domestic shortwave outlets on the 6 MHz band for a while, but without success. This morning at 0231 UT, CHNX on 6130 kHz was remarkably loud. Strong European stations on 6125 and 6135 caused problems, but these could be eliminated by using SSB mode, even though getting the BFO tune exactly right is tricky. Key quotes heard: "and that's the latest from the CHNS Weather Center", "Oldies 96 CHNS", "CHNS Radio, Halifax, Nova Scotia". Music included "Calendar Girl" - Neil Sedaka and "You've Made Me So Very Happy" - Blood, Sweat & Tears (one of my favourite bands, but rarely ever heard being played on air!). (Tom Read, UK, BDXC-UK May 29 via DXLD) CHNX is noted back on the air on May 28 at 2200 UT announcing its e- mail address as chnx@chnsradio.com I sent them a report. They're putting in a very good signal here in eastern Maine (Charles F. Washburn, ME, ODXA via DXLD) If you go on their website http://www.chnsradio.com you're sent to some media production site. I to sent a report chnx@chnsradio.com on Friday and have had no response (Mark Coady, ibid.) ** CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC. Presidential spokesman says rebels still control radio station | Text of report in English by French news agency AFP Bangui, 29 May: The Central African Republic's army Tuesday [29 May] took control of the south of the capital, where rebel soldiers fell back after a foiled coup bid, President Ange-Felix Patasse's spokesman said. However, mutinous troops were still holding out in the area around the state radio's transmitter, spokesman Prosper Ndouba said. Local residents reported automatic weapons fire, apparently from loyalist soldiers of the Central African Armed Forces (FACA), in some southern districts of Bangui. "All southern districts are now under control, apart from a pocket of resistance around the national radio transmitter centre," Ndouba told AFP in Libreville by telephone. Elsewhere, FACA troops were carrying out "house to house searches" for rebels, he said. Residents fleeing the south of Bangui earlier said that loyalist troops stormed the area in a pre-dawn operation, using automatic weapons and mortars as they hunted down men accused of attacking Patasse's residence on Monday. Automatic and heavy weapons fire could be heard from around 5.00 a.m. (0400 gmt), an AFP correspondent reported. For the second day running, state radio was not broadcasting, apparently because the transmitter remained in the hands of the mutineers. On Monday, presidential guards quelled a coup bid which began in the early hours of the morning, leaving "many dead" after mutinous soldiers opened fire on Patasse's residence, Ndouba said late in the day. "The president is safe and sound," he said, breaking hours of silence from Patasse's office in the aftermath of the attack, when the authorities refused to comment on developments. The impoverished, landlocked country has long been politically unstable, particularly in the wake of three army mutinies in 1996 and 1997, which were put down with French military assistance. On Monday evening, the government declared an overnight curfew. Inhabitants of southern Bangui, a stronghold of opposition to Patasse who comes from the north of the CAR, said several hundred people had fled their homes to seek shelter in villages on the road to M'Baiki, further south. Ndouba said "former rebels holed up in the Kassai military camp" took part in the assault on Patasse's residence and stated that they had been "rendered harmless during the curfew". Residents, however, said gunfire could be heard on Tuesday morning from the Kassai base, the main barracks in Bangui. The streets of the capital were virtually empty of traffic in the morning. Residents told AFP that the night was relatively calm, but sporadic gunfire had been heard in south and east Bangui, which lies in the southern CAR on the Oubangui river by the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. Source: AFP news agency, Paris, in English 0858 gmt 29 May 01 (via BBCM via DXLD) DOES ANY OF THIS REFER TO THE SW FREQUENCY 5035V? (gh, DXLD) National and private radio stations unheard after coup bid The CAR national radio station, Radio Centrafrique, remained unheard in Bangui at 0710 gmt on 29 May, a day after a failed coup attempt against President Ange Felix Patasse which left at least a dozen people dead. Three private radio stations - the UN FM radio, Ndeke Luka; the Catholic Church FM radio, Notre Dame; and the Protestant Church's FM radio, la Voix de Grace - were also unheard on 29 May. None of the seven daily newspapers in Bangui - Le Citoyen, L'Hirondelle, Vuma, La Tortue Dechaine, Les Collines des Bas- Oubangui, Le Democrate and Le Novateur - published editions on 29 May. Source: BBC Monitoring research 29 May 01 (via DXLD) {Note: following story duplicates much of the content of the one above, but is not identical, issued somewhat later -gh} Police official says radio central transmitter destroyed | Text of report in English by French news agency AFP Bangui, 29 May: The Central African Republic's army Tuesday [29 May] stormed the south of the capital to take control of areas where rebel soldiers fell back after a bloody coup bid against President Ange- Felix Patasse. Mutinous troops had fallen back on several districts, including the area around the state radio transmitter at Bimbo, just south of Bangui, Patasse's spokesman Prosper Ndouba said. Early Tuesday, local residents reported automatic weapons fire mainly by loyalist soldiers of the Central African Armed Forces (FACA), in parts of southern Bangui, which is politically an opposition stronghold. Fleeing residents said that the army and presidential guard invaded the area in a pre-dawn operation, using automatic weapons and mortars as they hunted down men accused of attacking Patasse's residence on Monday. Automatic and heavy weapons fire began at around 5 a.m. (0400 gmt), an AFP correspondent reported. Sporadic gunfire and shellbursts could still be heard at the end of the morning in the south, the city centre and the east, near the main army barracks. Thousands of people took to the roads, heading either south to villages on the way to M'Baiki, or to other parts of the city. "All southern districts are now under control, apart from a pocket of resistance around the national radio transmitter centre," Ndouba told AFP in Libreville by telephone. A senior police official said the central transmitter had been destroyed, without giving details of the damage, but he added that it was likely "to be working again between now and tomorrow". FACA troops were carrying out "house-to-house searches" for rebels, Ndouba said - a statement confirmed to AFP in Bangui by residents fleeing from both the south and the east. "Southern districts are crawling with FACA and presidential guard troops," one woman loaded down with a sackful of possessions said. "They're using tanks and automatic weapons and looking for rebels. They've killed several." "The FACA don't mean us any harm," she added. "The soldiers are letting us pass." On Monday, the special presidential unit quelled a coup bid which started in the early hours of the morning when rebel soldiers attacked Patasse's home with automatic weapons and mortars. Seven members of Patasse's guard were killed and there were "many dead among the attackers", Ndouba said late in the day, while on Tuesday he said the final death toll "could be much higher". The commander of the national police force, or gendarmerie, General François Ndjadder Bedaya, died of wounds sustained during the attack on the presidency, he added. "The president and his family are safe and sound," Patasse's spokesman repeated Tuesday, but he added that the fighting had started fires and caused considerable damage to the official residence. The impoverished, landlocked country has long been politically unstable, particularly in the wake of three army mutinies in 1996 and 1997, which were put down with French military assistance. On Monday evening, the government declared an overnight curfew. Ndouba said "former rebels holed up in the Kassai military camp" took part in the assault on Patasse's residence and stated that they had been "rendered harmless during the curfew". "We took prisoners, apparently several dozen of them," Ndouba said, adding that those captured were "mostly former mutineers and rebel FACA officers" but without further identifying them. Residents, however, said gunfire could be heard on Tuesday morning from the Kassai base, Bangui's main barracks in the east of the city. The streets of the capital were virtually empty of traffic in the morning. Residents told AFP that the night was relatively calm, but sporadic gunfire was heard in south and east Bangui, which lies in the south of the CAR, on the Oubangui River at the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. Source: AFP news agency, Paris, in English 1142 gmt 29 May 01 (via BBCM via DXLD) National radio still unheard, UN radio broadcasting The Central African Republic's national radio station was unheard at 1300 gmt on 29 May. However, the UN FM radio named Ndeke Luka started broadcasting at around 1200 gmt, but was playing music only. Source: BBC Monitoring research 29 May 01 (via DXLD) ** CHECHNYA. Russia: Chechen rebels launch new radio station | Text of report by Nokhchi Information Centre web site on 26 May 24 May: Radio Kavkaz has started broadcasting on shortwave in Chechnya on 7350 [kHz]. The radio programmes are informative and analytical and are directed at a broad audience interested in unbiased and topical information which counterbalances the Kremlin's propaganda. The programmes are currently broadcast from 1700 to 2200 Moscow time [1300 to 1800 gmt] in Russian, but are expected to expand broadcasting time and the circle of listeners by broadcasting in other Caucasus languages. Source: Nokhchi Information Centre web site, Tbilisi, in Russian 0715 gmt 26 May 01 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** CHINA [non]. CLANDESTINE from CIS to CHINA? 12075 ? A clandestine is here and opens at 2200. As far as I could hear the ID was NOT Falun Dafa, although everything else sounds similar to the old WFDR, so this may be one of the other clandestines broadcasting to China. (No TDP promo.) Before 2200 there were CIS/Moscow pips from 2150. When I first heard the station a few days ago the signal was very strong and easily overran the jamming. This time the signal was rather weak and quite fluttery and nothing was audible through the jamming. This behaviour indicates a site like Petropavlovsk, but there is also some chance that it is a nearby site, within the greyzone (skip zone) distance. Although there was one or two strong jammers, including a jammer on a spurious signal on 12140, the jamming was much less intense than what we saw when WFDR was active from Bulgaria, and this also indicates that the station is not WFDR. I was not able to locate any parallel frequency in the 16 to 31 m bands (Olle Alm, Sweden, May 25-27, Cumbre DX Special May 28 via DXLD) ** CONGO. 4765, Radio Congo (thanks to GP for the tip). Saturday 1802 Came through well with FF px and Afro music, and to my surprise and delight, an English language section from around 1835. Announced address not in the WRTH: PO Box 223, Radio Congo, Brazzaville, Republic of Congo (Tom Read, BDXC-UK May 29 via DXLD) ** CZECH REPUBLIC. Now, it seems, Radio Prague has taken the opposite approach of the BBC-WS. Tonight on the mailbag, they state they have no thought of leaving shortwave; and to emphasize that- they ask listeners in Australia to tell them a time they would like to see a transmission to that region to be on shortwave, as many listeners don't have a computer (to paraphrase their statement). Are you listening Mr. Byford, or are you caught up in your own ego? (Trust me, I know the answer). (Bill KA2EMZ Bergadano, swprograms via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. RUSSIA: Netsanet Radio in Amharic noted on May 23 and 25 via RUS tx (NOT Sofia BUL): 1700-1800 on 12110 (55544). (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria, May 29 via DXLD) {Oops! Originally mislocated under KURDISTAN -gh} ** GERMANY: New schedule of Deutsche Welle in English to Eu: 06.00 - 16.00 on 6140 via Juelich <<<<<<<< DELETED 16.00 - 19.00 on 6140 via Wertachtal <<<<<<<< ex via Juelich 20.00 - 20.45 on 7130 via Wertachtal (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria, May 29 via DXLD) ** HONDURAS. 5010.00, HRMI Radio Mi, 0037-0100 May 19, religious preacher in Spanish, 0100 announcement with ID, into English/Spanish religious talk. Good signal (Mark Mohrmann, VT, May 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. Subject: Warning: Indonesian Government to Fall [this potentially perishable item was posted as soon as we received it, 0500 UT May 28 at http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/Anomaly.html ] Analysis Recent details emerging from Indonesia may appear to be incremental steps in the country's long journey toward collapse. The economy spirals downward, and social unrest ripples through street demonstrations. By the end of May, President Abdurrahman Wahid must respond to a second censure by Indonesia's lower house of Parliament before it considers impeachment hearings. The larger, looming reality, however, is that Wahid's government is likely to fall sometime this summer, no later than autumn. The current political stalemate is part of a vicious cycle, reinforcing poor economic conditions and further eroding stability. Facing a cash crunch, the government may raise fuel prices next month; the same move by Suharto in 1998 helped trigger the popular uprising against him. Protests and demonstrations in Jakarta have broken out regularly against the backdrop of the government's political instability. August has been a prime time for upheaval. Wahid has played political factions against one another so often that none will stand by him now. And by dividing the army and the police - the security apparatus - and by prosecuting certain officers, Wahid has created a military incapable of supporting the president. (Today`s Global Intelligence Update, May 27 via Robert Thompson via Harwood, DXLD) This could happen in days even hours. RA is saying that Wahid could try and impose martial law to try and stave off impeachment. There are two distinct possibilities. Either Indonesia will further fragment or the military will stage a coup and regain power. Both scenarios are likely to cause further instability and chaos. The high amount of HF traffic in Indonesian is worth monitoring to give a possible indication which way it will go. Just tune to any unoccupied channel especially from 0900 and later and you will easily find numerous networks in Indonesian. Channels worth monitoring are 10000 kHz (this seems to be a calling channel, yes on top of WWV, WWVH et al) 10030 kHz. In fact they seem to be between 10 and 11.5 MHz and on top of aeronautical networks including 11175. They can use either upper or lower SB but predominantly lower on 10 MHz. Another unofficial call channel is on 7000 kHz USB and every 5 kHz up from there. These are *not* YB hams for they are usually on LSB and there is quite a deal of tension between the two. Also below 7 MHz there are several networks. RRI Jakarta on 15125 kHz is worth continuously monitoring and also what provincial stations remain. A lot have migrated to FM. I only wish I had bothered to learn Bahasa Indonesia, but as a friend pointed out, many ops are using dialects. Don't be confused as there are many other SSB stations using Cantonese, Hakka, Thai and Khmer within the same range with the exception of 7 MHz. Indonesians seem to have that all to themselves. 73, (Robin L. Harwood, VK7RH ex Intruder Monitoring Service Co-ordinator for VK7 (Tasmania), May 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN [non]. MOLDOVA: Freq change of R. International in Persian via Grigoriopol` 500 kW/115 deg: 1630-1715 NF 11625 (54554) plus bubble jammer, ex 11635 (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria, May 29 via DXLD) ** KURDISTAN [non]. RUSSIA: Netsanet Radio in Amharic noted on May 23 and 25 via RUS tx (NOT Sofia BUL): 1700-1800 on 12110 (55544). (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria, May 29 via DXLD) {Oops! this should have been under ETHIOPIA non in the first place, where it now reside} ** KURDISTAN [non]. UNID TX SITE: New station RADIO MUST in Kurdish noted: 1400-1600 on 17490 (45444) <<<<<<<< May 24 ONLY 1400-1600 on 15770 (45544) <<<<<<<< from May 25 (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria, May 29 via DXLD) See next: ** KURDISTAN [non]. CLANDESTINE TO KURDISTAN. 15770, 28th May 1520- 1600*. Good at first with man talking in Kurdish, or similar, with several mentions of Kurdistan with solemn music in the background, went into local songs 1535 and announcement prior to sign off. Could not get station name at sign off, mainly due to increasing interference from a warbling jammer, slightly lower in frequency, and accompanying noise. May well be Voice of Mesopotamia reported here with a test transmission 21st May by BBCM (Mike Barraclough, UK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) So Mondays only? ** LITHUANIA. Glenn, I have listened to R. Vilnius every day since May 21 at 2330 and 0030 UT. IMO there is not a problem with reception of either the 2330 or the 0030 broadcast of R. Vilnius. However, I'm still trying to discover the identity of the QRM under the R. Vilnius signal at 2330 on 9875. I will wait a few weeks and listen again. 73, (-.. . Kraig, KG4LAC, Krist, May 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALTA/SPAIN. According to former DW director D. Weirich was the Malta station meanwhile razed to the ground; the area is now expensive building land (Harald Kuhl via Ludwig) Actually I expect the very same fate for Playa de Pals, too. See also the nice report from Bob Padula (Kai Ludwig, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MOROCCO. Hi all, RTM Rabat is back 28 May on 7471 and 14942 kHz! Carrier was on before 1800 and programme started at 1802 UT. vy 73 de (Jürgen Lohuis, Germany, harmonics@yahoogroupos.com via DXLD) This one can be heard in central Ukraine: May 28 noted since 1833 UT 7471.14 Good, some C-QRM 14942.28 Poor, fade in/out. 1902'50" usual ID, "izzat'u mamlakatu magrebiya --- ribat", into Cultural program. Checked in 20 min: 1925 UT || 15345, (BTW through RAE co-channel). Not steady freq 7471.1-.2, so 2nd Harmonic deviates 14942.3+. ILG last year listed 7470.0 for Tanger 25 kW beamed to ciraf 27-29 with Rhombic ant., sked'd 1700-2200 UT. May be still true... 73 all (Vlad Titarev, Ukraine, 33e/49n, ibid.) ** PALAU. Radio Station T8BZ on Babeldaob Island Palau We would appreciate reports on our 9985 kHz transmissions from 1100 to 1200 daily. This is the old KHBN station which has been allocated a new call sign. Running 50 kW to a double extended zepp antenna with reflector curtain we are firing into Japan, Korea, China and the Philippines. We would like to hear of any reports from anywhere! All reports will be QSL'd. Many thanks Rev Dr Bill Burton Chief Engineer Radio Station T8BZ High Adventure Radio Network PO Box 66 Koror, Palau PW 96940 E mail Cacciatore@lineone.net (via DXing.com Newsroom via DXLD) ** SOMALIA. 6750-usb, Voice of the People; Radio Mogadishu. Saturday 1805 Came through pretty well although the audio was a bit muffled. Difficult to get solid px details down, not being a linguist, but at least one language I do know is music, so I was able to transcribe the distinctive theme tune that was used repeatedly. Hope this counts as proof of reception! (Tom Read, BDXC-UK May 29 via DXLD) ** SPAIN/U S A. As at May-27, the IBB Public Master frequency schedule had not been updated. A colleague tells me that services from Pals are being shifted to other transmitting sites. I might speculate that the facility could be taken over by the Spanish authorities for its own external services, as there is a lot of high- powered transmitting capacity there (six 250 kW). Will we see a "Voice of Catalunya" emerge? Visit http://www.members.tripod.com/~bpadula/edxp.html for a description, with photos, of my visit to the station in October 2000, as part of the European DX Council conference in Barcelona (Bob Padula, Victoria, EDXP via DXLD) From: http://english.pravda.ru/main/2001/05/27/6033.html The US Administration finished Radio Liberty retransmission in Catalonia's Palos. Spain's cabinet and national radio were duly informed. The retransmitting station was established in 1951 to broadcast for the Soviet Union. The station is not so important as it used to be now that democratic regimes have established themselves and a market- oriented economy is emerging in the post-Soviet area, so it is pointless to preserve the retransmitters in Catalonia from the financial and tactical points alike, to say nothing of more sophisticated telecommunication technologies available today, and the presence of other stations to broadcast for the post-Soviet countries, the US Administration says in an official statement. The townspeople are enthusiastic about the news after the residents of houses round the station were uneasy for many years with radiowaves' bad effect. They are also glad to have a large Mediterranean coastal strip back after the station is dismantled with prospects to use another plot for tourism, one of the principal sources of local revenues (via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** UGANDA. While doing my usual check of the tropical band frequencies tonight I notice that Radio Uganda on 4976 kHz is absent. Uganda on 5026 kHz is okay but no sign of 4976's usual strong signal. Can anyone shed any light on this? 73's (Graham Powell, England, May 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. I don`t have the time (or inclination, since hardly anyone else seems to care) to compile another BBC R 2/3/4 highlights schedule, but a reminder that the Goons Special evening on Radio 2 is about to air Tuesday from 1800 (gh, DXLD) ** U K. Subject: Reply to Telegraph article from Mark Byford Hi Glenn: May 28th Daily Telegraph letters column contains this from Mark Byford, BBC World Service Director: Sir: With reference to your article "BBC World Service to cut back broadcasts" it would be just as fair to say "BBC World Service to invest more in its FM presence and internet capability across the world". For that is what the decision to cut shortwave transmissions to the most developed broadcasting markets in the world is all about. In America, the vast majority of our listeners access us through public radio and the internet- only 300,000 are uniquely shortwave listeners. We are still strongly committed to our target audience there. Our award winning website provides 24-hour service of continuous and on-demand audio in high quality sound. All the savings will be ploughed back into FM and internet investment across the world. We are now present on FM in 121 capital cities. By 2004 we aim to be present on FM in 70 per cent of all the world's capitals. We are also investing millions of pounds in upgrading our short wave transmitters in Oman, Cyprus and Singapore for those markets where short wave will remain the primary delivery method for some years to come. And for the record, we are already available 24 hours a day in Suva, Fiji, on 106.8 FM (END Byford) Though the original report was in the Electronic edition the letters column is not printed there. I think it would be good for UK Telegraph readers, and it is the largest selling UK serious newspaper, to read some of the arguments in rebuttal of Mr Byford's views I have seen expressed in DXLD. Email is dtletters@telegraph.co.uk and letter writers are requested to give their name, address and work and home telephone numbers. In today`s sports section cricket correspondent Michael Henderson starts his column "Change and decay in all around I see." The BBC have seen fit to shut down the shortwave transmitters that broadcast the World Service to the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, depriving millions of loyal listeners of the corporation's greatest single contribution to civilisation. It saves pennies, they tell us. Ah well, now they can write out more vast cheques to the likes of Jonathan Ross. Isn't this a wonderful country? The final point refers to increasing salaries being paid to domestic network radio presenters (Mike Barraclough, UK, May 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Mike: I agree with you wholeheartedly on the matter of excessive salaries. At both the BBC and the ABC (Australia), excellent award-winning program producers and experienced managers -- who incidentally out of dedication to the concept of public service broadcasting worked for thousands less than they could have earned -- have been hounded out of the public service in favor of refugees from the commercial broadcast sector paid at much higher levels. The latter have no understanding of the different nature of programs produced for the public vs. programs produced for advertisers -- and their management and productions prove this daily. Yet we are told that these people are "revitalizing" the enterprises so they may "compete" within the field. Of course, this ultimately means that underserved audiences (which are supposed to be a prime concern of public service broadcasters) will no longer be served at all because they cannot produce the "profits" or "numbers" that, to those with a commercial orientation, justify the expenditure of resources. Eventually, there will be no distinction between a commercial broadcaster and a public service one because the culture of the latter will have been overridden by the former. This is where we are headed, IMHO. The reasoning is skewed -- a smaller, but committed audience is of more value to a true public broadcaster than a larger, transient one. But the change in corporate values dictates that they chase the latter one. But getting back to excessive salaries: these, again, are justified by the new BBC managers as "necessary to compete". This skew puts resources there -- and other places -- rather than in maintaining an important link to its admittedly comparatively smaller, but far more committed, audience on shortwave. It also compels them to expand availability of five minute newscasts on FM over preserving the full service available via shortwave because measurements like "awareness" of the BBC then can show "growth" -- another value stressed by commercial broadcasters over others. Comparatively, the fact that a smaller group could be shown to spend hours with the service (which would be a more important indicator of value to a true public broadcaster) becomes less important. In saying all this, I'm not saying that one type of broadcasting is necessarily better than the other. But they do serve different masters/functions and there are important distinctions to be made between them. We need both of them; but one is being torn down in the current environment. That latter point, I believe, is not debatable (John Figliozzi, May 29, swprograms via DXLD) So, we now have 1.5 million online listeners to BBC? And the shortwave audience is now down to a million. This is like checking the pork belly quotes at the Mercantile. It changes every morning (Kim Elliott, DC, swprograms via DXLD) Of the 2.5 million people listening on FM and the 1.5 million listening on the net, I would like to ask the following questions of them: a) How many of the FM listeners know that shortwave could provide them with round-the-clock BBC, plus a much wider variety of programming than they are accessing on FM? b) Same question to the net users c) How many in these 2 groups know what a shortwave radio is? d) How many of the 1.5 million listeners on the net are doing it simultaneously? e) This one is for the BBC... How many people can access audio via the BBC website at one point in time? (Sheldon Harvey, ibid.) 100 streams per real server. Less if you're using multibit rate streaming. It's about 9,000 to own a real server, far less for microsoft windows media. Call Reliacast in Herdon; they're the only people I trust to measure streaming media. Java applet downloads as you register for a stream. It's not server logs (Lou Josephs, ibid.) Dear Mr. Hauser: In my original letter to the BBC I pointed out that their information on Canadian rebroadcasters is inaccurate and also that not ALL of their programming will be available after July 1st. A good example of this came to light on Saturday May 26th. During the Scottish FA Cup Final I decided to log on to my computer at home to see what the sound quality of the broadcast would be. Upon clicking the link to Sports World I was told that this programme was unavailable over the Internet because of issues regarding broadcast rights. At the end of the game which I was ONLY able to hear on short wave, the broadcast team commented on their world wide audience and specifically mentioned people in Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand! How ironic that they should have done this when these very people will soon be unable to hear this kind of programming. One final point. The BBC have told their soon to be abandoned audience in North America that programmes are available on the BBC Website. Well I checked the Write On link yesterday to hear the latest edition and while it says that the current programme is posted, this is in fact not the case since what the link yielded was the programme from two weeks ago! Not a very good sign of the service we have to "look forward" to after June 30th. Let's hope that the BBC may hear our protests and do something about this mess (Mr. S. Finlayson, Ont., DX LISTENING DIGEST) I had thought that I had confirmed the new edition was there ondemand, but maybe I was imagining it, since upon rechecking May 28, indeed there is only an old one at http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/sitemap/writeon.ram reached from the pop-up under People & Beliefs: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/sitemap/pop_writeon.shtml (gh, DXLD) I received a message from a highly reliable source in the radio community. This person told me I could mention this on the condition that they remain anonymous. They suggested the name of someone who, to my knowledge, has not been mentioned in this list, but who may have had a major role in the decision to cut BBCWS transmissions to North America and Australia. The person who gave me the information has several well-placed sources at the Beeb. They suggest that Mr. Fritz Groothues, who is the head of Strategy and Public Affairs at the BBC World Service, may have had a behind-the-scenes role in coming up with the plan and in convincing BBC officials to adopt it. Perhaps Mr. Groothues should be receiving some communications from concerned listeners, in addition to other officials who have already been mentioned. 73 (Marie Lamb, swprograms, via DXLD) Dear Glenn, Letter to Britain's representative in New Zealand. The e mail address to contact him is: bhcpress@xtra.co.nz Subject: BBC on Short Wave to the Pacific to end Attention Mr. Martin Williams British High Commission -- Wellington Dear Mr. Williams, I write to make you aware of the intention of the BBC World Service to end its service on Short Wave to inter alia the Australia/Pacific region on July 1st. This will have a catastrophic effect on the many who look to the BBC to provide impartial news and current affairs coverage of world events. The BBC cites as alternatives the internet and rebroadcasting via local FM stations. The internet is subject to monthly fees, buffering problems and obviously ties up one's phone line. FM re- broadcasts are almost non existent in New Zealand. Further listening to the audio on one's computer is not a cozy experience. A radio is portable, low cost and one can do other things whilst the radio is on. A tenuous but valuable medium wave re-broadcast does exist for Aucklanders (on 1476 kHz) but for the rest of this long country, SW is THE only means of reception. This decision has additional relevance to any nation as eographically isolated as New Zealand. Perusal of the local news scene be it TV, radio or the traditional daily news paper will reveal a superficial coverage of events beyond these shores. Much happens outside NZ. BBC's shortwave service provides a proper perspective for world news, science, the arts, sport and much more. Further it is a continuous service not subject to a rebroadcasters whim on what (and what not) to rebroadcast. This decision is short sighted and seems to be driven by a perception that radio is somehow no longer a viable or important medium. This is not backed by the available statistics. Companies like Grundig and Sony report burgeoning sales of SW receivers. Would it be possible for you to intervene in this matter to determine whether this decision is irreversible. The BBC hopes to "save" money by this decision. It seems all that will happen is loss of its listeners in New Zealand. Surely this cannot be part of the BBC's mandate? Yours sincerely, (David Norrie, NZ, May 28, cc to DXLD) Dear Mr. Hauser: Please find below a response I just received from the British Deputy High Commissioner for Canada. I appreciate the tone of his response, but it looks very much as if the loss of Short Wave is a "done deal" and that our protests are not getting very far. (Sandy Finlay, May 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) _______________________________________________ Response from Deputy High Commissioner for Canada Thank you for writing about the changes the BBC World Service will be making to their broadcasting in North America. I was able to discuss your concerns (and those of a number of others) with their marketing manager for this part of the world. Coincidentally, he was here in Ottawa the day after your email. Being a bathroom/kitchen listener to the radio myself, I share the sense of frustration that the World Service will be harder to access. At least in the short term. But I was intrigued to hear how there are products in the pipeline which will make it much easier for us to listen online. Rather similar to today`s radios in fact! I know this isn`t the answer to the immediate problem next month. But it is likely to make the World Service accessible to many more listeners in North America over the longer term than their traditional shortwave broadcasts. I share your sense of sadness - not least that the jump is being made before the new consumer products are generally available. But I hope you`ll keep in touch with the BBC. Some of their services are available through http://www.audiobasket.com, and of course their own website. Yours sincerely (Richard Codrington, Deputy High Commissioner, BHC Ottawa, tel. (1) 613 237 1542 ext 343 fax. (1) 613 567 8045 via S. Finlay, DXLD) Sent to BBC WS: Dear Sir or Madam: By way of introduction, I am a shortwave columnist for a magazine with world circulation, and I have been associated one way or another with radio broadcasting for most of my life. It is my professional opinion, based on the facts as I see them, that the BBC World Service's decision to eliminate short wave radio relays to North America and the Pacific is disastrously ill-advised, and apparently based on invalid conclusions from valid research. It is a typically abstract piece of corporate decision making, based solely on what numbers say, and ignoring the real needs of real people. For all these reasons, it is wrong. 1. Corporate Abstraction Quoting from your own World Wide Web bulletin: "From 1 July 2001, the World Service will be focusing its delivery in English to North America... on its numerous re-broadcasting partnerships... together with 24 hour online audio output." This kind of corporatese is repugnant enough in itself. Isn't your service important enough to describe in standard English language writing? What would be so wrong with something human, like, "... our English service listeners in North America... will hear the World Service in clearer, more stable sound from our many FM and MW relay partners, or on the exciting new medium of Internet audio?" This is a little thing, maybe, just a matter of semantics, but it goes to the core of what I see as the entire reason for the perceived audience shifts that warrant the decision to concentrate shortwave elsewhere. It is that the policy makers at the BBCWS have been out of touch with the needs of real US audiences for almost a decade now, to the point where the shortwave audience has not as much changed media as gone away. In short, the BBC has lost its direction, and finally its soul. Let's take this right down to the human level. When I told my wife that the plug was finally being pulled on the Sackville relay and the others, she said something that sums it all up. She said, "That is sad, I miss how we used to listen to the BBC in the morning." She is referring to the cuts in programming that have seemingly been ongoing since the streaming format was first introduced. The BBC has not had a clear morning signal in the western United States in many years. The Singapore transmitter was never of good quality in Los Angeles at that hour, and so we simply stopped listening. There was no FM, that is only midnight to 3 AM here, and the notion of putting a computer and speakers by the bed merely to hear BBCWS in the morning bordered on idiotic. Surely you do not think that all Americans are really that rich, frivolous, and wasteful. Maybe a well publicised minority, but not all. I am hardly alone here. Perhaps your research accurately noted the huge decline in the US shortwave audience, but it probably did not address the reason for this decline, that the signal and program selection have both been declining for a long time. And then, like all large corporations these days, the BBC proceeded to take the raw numeric evidence for this decline and completely miss out on the cause, namely that the audience had been driven away. The numbers were made to be the entire story, and then an erroneous conclusion was drawn. The US audience, which has never been large anyway, was not turning away from shortwave. It was turning away from YOUR shortwave. 2. Letting the Marketing Department Determine Policy Quoting from your own web site: "This decision has been made in response to the real revolution in the way people in developed markets access their media." Again, note the impersonal use of corporation-speak in the absence of communicative writing. Who writes this stuff anyway? Ad research consultants? Not real writers, that is for sure. Again, we see the reason for the BBC's profound decline before we even analyze it. No soul. I do not "access" media. I do not "access" anything. I do not need to sound authoritative by making verbs from nouns. I enjoy. I listen, or I look, or I see, or I feel. I am not a disk drive. Whichever consultant or executive wrote this apparently thinks that I am. I find this vile. Further, I resent the assumption that people who can afford any alternative will avoid shortwave. In the United States, shortwave is not a medium for the poor. Continuing: "In the US three times as many people listen to us on FM as on shortwave." Probably so. And about 1000 times as many people listen to FM as EVER listen to shortwave. If all you are after is gross audience penetration and sexy numbers for top management, well, you've come to the right place. FM is the most popular medium in the US, and shortwave is about the least, and this has very little to do with the product and very much to do with the way radios are used in the United States. I am sure it is completely true that three times as many people listen on FM. More to the point, these people report their listening to Arbitron, which doesn't even rate shortwave. However that does not make them your core audience, because your core audience gave up the BBC, and now you do not have one in this country. It does not make the FM rebroadcasts convenient, or even particularly desirable. It just makes them there, like air conditioning. Someone casually flips on a clock radio at 1 in the morning, and, yes, there is BBC. They might listen, and they might not. I usually do. Until I fall asleep, anyway. So there sits the FM generating good numbers. Meanwhile many British citizens living on the US West Coast or shortwave listeners wanting something better than routine entertainment media are out of luck. They can't hear the BBC. Needless to say, they aren't listening. They used to be, and most would still, but they can't. Like my wife and I, they've given up. A few may very well have enthusiastically switched to FM's clearer signals. Most, however, just gripe about it to people like me, and I assure you that I have gotten an earful. Apparently I know more about what the real audience is thinking than the entire research department of the mighty BBC. 3. Misplaced Faith in the Internet There has been much in the news lately about the "dot-com bubble." Many thousands, perhaps millions, of investors made the erroneous assumption, based mostly on puff pieces in financial media, that Internet was poised to replace just about everything else. When it didn't, nearly as many investors lost big money. The NASDAQ, a US stock exchange, lost 40 per cent of its aggregate value in a matter of months. It was a blood bath. Nobody gets excited about Internet in the United States any more. Apparently, the BBC still gets excited about it, however. Quoting again: "... BBC must explore the newest technologies." Explore - yes. Replace with - madness. The internet is promising, but it is not quite there, and it may not be for many years. Especially in the area of maintaining reliable, 24/7/52, data streams across oceans, it suffers from serious vulnerabilities at many points along the way. It uses low-end software designed for the casual entertainment of (mostly teenage) users. It was never intended for the serious delivery of a broadcast signal, week after week, year after year. The Internet is new, it is fun, I am using it right now, but it is still looking for its niche. There is a growing doubt that broadcasting will ever be it, no matter how much the BBC and others want to invest in it. More likely, we'll see pictures, video clips, e-commerce, and e-mail as the new "killer apps." Further, I do not like the assumption made that Internet is convenient. If "canned" content is to be transferred, just like any other file, it ceases being a broadcast at all. If this is the aim, along with the midnight FM, then why not be honest and say that broadcasting to our continent is being discontinued? That we can still download files or catch a feed off the birds at some late hour when it's cheap fill for stations that don't want to originate their own content? After all, this is what it means. Otherwise, we are left with the almost ludicrous assumption that a networked computer can be casually carried around and used anywhere one would ever use a shortwave radio. Since nobody's that stupid, I will simply ignore the argument that this can be a real alternative to HF broadcasting any time soon. At this point, BBC apparently decides to cut to the chase: "The money saved by closing short wave transmission to North America will go towards funding this investment in the future." Now, obviously, this is what it's been all about all along. Money. BBC is privatizing, Thatcherizing as we call it over here, and doesn't have the money, the moola, the scratch, the do-re-mi, the booty, to keep up the kind of schedule and signal clarity we were spoiled by when governments deemed huge broadcasting programs as essential to cold war propaganda efforts. Why not be honest, and say this right up front? Internet costs way, way less. This whole thing is about money. There's no investment in the future here. There's only less investment in the present. 4. Conclusion - Destroying the World Service to Save It After all is said, the only conclusion I can make is that the World Service, despite all its assurances to the contrary, is no longer committed to maintaining even a minimal presence in the United States. I have noticed over the years that it is a fairly common practice in the radio industry to stop trying, to drive off enough of the audience to show bad trends in the numbers, and then kill whatever it is that management wanted to kill all along. I must conclude that the decision to leave shortwave is so foolhardy and ill-advised that in fact it is indeed a withdrawal from the North American region. I find this sad, and I hope that at some point it will be reconsidered, and the mighty BBC will be back on our speakers and screens here in the USA. Very sincerely, Hugh Stegman ----------------- Hugh Stegman NV6H 34N 118.5W Monitoring Times Utility World/ Utility Loggings http://www.ominous-valve.com/uteworld.html (cc DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. UK radio stations live online, listings and frequencies: http://www.radionow.co.uk/ (Chet Copeland, NY, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UZBEKISTAN. It is 2000 UT May 27 and I'm just listening to R. Tashkent International on 15180 (3 x 5060) and 15075 kHz (3 x 5025) in German. Today no trace of RTM Rabat on 7471 kHz. vy 73 de (Jürgen Lohuis, Germany, harmonics@yahoogroups.com via DXLD) Do they now ID in English with the `International` ? (gh, DXLD) ** VATICAN CITY: Vatican Radio observed on NF 5885.0 (VAT 80 kW), ex 5883.0 as follows [with azimuths]: 02.30 - 02.50 Slovene 010 10.00 - 10.15 Angelus Sun only 010 02.50 - 03.10 Croatian 010 10.00 - 11.00 Italian Mon to Sat 010 03.10 - 03.25 Czech 010 10.15 - 11.00 Italian Sun only 010 03.25 - 03.40 Slovak 010 12.00 - 12.30 Italian 010 03.40 - 04.00 Hungarian 010 14.00 - 14.15 German 010 04.00 - 04.20 Polish 010 14.15 - 14.30 Polish 010 04.20 - 04.40 German 010 14.30 - 15.00 Music Sat to Thu 010 04.40 - 05.00 French 330 14.30 - 15.00 Italian Fri 010 05.00 - 05.20 English 330 15.00 - 15.30 Vespers 010 05.20 - 05.30 Italian 330 15.30 - 16.00 Italian 010 05.30 - 06.00 Mass in Latin 330 16.00 - 16.15 French 330 06.00 - 06.15 Italian 330 16.15 - 16.30 English 330 06.15 - 06.30 French 330 16.30 - 16.50 Slovene 050 06.30 - 06.45 English 330 16.50 - 17.10 Croatian 050 06.45 - 07.00 Arabic 330 17.10 - 22.15 Vary on 5883.0 SMG 100 kW SMG=Santa Maria di Galeria; VAT=Vatican City 73 from (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria, May 29 via DXLD) ** YUGOSLAVIA/BOSNIA. Problems with Radio Yugoslavia SW transmitter "solved" | Text of report by Bosnian Serb news agency SRNA Belgrade, 25 May: Federal [Yugoslav] Secretary of Information Slobodan Orlich told journalists in Belgrade today that, after nine months, the radio transmitter near Bijeljina [in Bosnia-Hercegovina], used for transmitting Radio Yugoslavia's broadcasts abroad, became operational again. He also said that the federal government launched a website Internet Yugoslavia [can be found on http://www.gov.yu] on the internet. "After many meetings between representatives of Bosnia-Hercegovina, the [Bosnian] Serb Republic and the international community, the problems with the transmitter are now solved, and this is of great importance for supplying the news for the [Yugoslav] diaspora and the public abroad", Orlich said. According to him, the transmitting centre is valued at 20m dollars. Orlich told journalists that the Internet Yugoslavia website attracted 80,000 hits, with 88 per cent of this number from abroad. Director of the Internet Yugoslavia website Svetozar Savich said its main purpose was to provide information about the work of the Yugoslav government and its state bodies, and that a part of the website [linked to http://www.madeinyugoslavia.co.yu] will provide opportunities for domestic economy. He said that Internet Yugoslavia would take part in providing information on the forthcoming donor conference. Radio Yugoslavia's director Milena Jokich said she was pleased that the federal government fully understands the importance of the radio station and emphasized that the number of stations transmitting programmes on short waves, as this station does, are on the increase all over the world. "We do not yet have a full permission to work. We have been registered with the international telecommunications union and we expect that we will have no problems in obtaining a full permission from the Bosnia- Hercegovina independent media commission", she said. Jokich added that the wait for making the transmitter operational again was planned to be 10 months, but that such a long wait could have caused the station's frequency to become swamped by stronger [radio stations]. "Considering that the transmitter is situated near Bijeljina, within the territory of another state, and, that it is our property, we shall propose to the Bosnia-Hercegovina [independent media] commission to allow Bosnia-Hercegovina to use the transmitter for its programmes too, as this would make it more useful and cheaper", Jokich said. Source: SRNA news agency, Bijeljina, in Serbo-Croat 1254 gmt 25 May 01 (via BBCM via DXLD) ###